The Common Core State Standards in Mathematics (CCSSM) present an opportunity to engage Tennessee students more deeply in the types of problem solving and mathematical thinking that build the fundamental and adaptive math skills necessary for life after high school. Please find below information about the key instructional shifts called for by the CCSSM, the Focus Standards which will be used to start the transition, videos about the CCSSM, assessment shifts, an explanation of how all of these pieces fit together in Tennessee’s transition plan, and a list of helpful resources.
Instructional Shifts
1. Focus strongly where the Standards focus
Rather than racing to cover everything in today’s mile-wide, inch-deep curriculum, teachers use the power of the eraser and significantly narrow and deepen the way time and energy is spent in the math classroom. They focus deeply on only those concepts that are emphasized in the standards so that students can gain strong foundational conceptual understanding, a high degree of procedural skill and fluency, and the ability to apply the math they know to solve problems inside and outside the math classroom.
2. Coherence: think across grades, and link to major topics within grades
Thinking across grades: Instead of treating math in each grade as a series of disconnected topics, principals and teachers carefully connect the learning within and across grades so that, for example, fractions or multiplication develop across grade levels and students can build new understanding onto foundations built in previous years. Teachers can begin to count on deep conceptual understanding of core content and build on it. Each standard is not a new event, but an extension of previous learning.
Linking to major topics: Instead of allowing less important topics to detract from the focus of the grade, these topics are taught in relation to the grade level focus. For example, data displays are not an end in themselves but are always presented along with grade-level word problems.
3. Rigor: require conceptual understanding, procedural skill and fluency, and application with intensity.
Conceptual understanding: Teachers teach more than “how to get the answer” and support students’ ability to access concepts from a number of perspectives so that students are able to see math as more than a set of mnemonics or discrete procedures. Students demonstrate deep conceptual understanding of core math concepts by solving short conceptual problems, applying math in new situations, and speaking about their understanding.
Procedural skill and fluency: Students are expected to have speed and accuracy in calculation. Teachers structure class time and/or homework time for students to practice core functions such as multiplication facts so that students are able to understand and manipulate more complex concepts.
Application: Students are expected to use math and choose the appropriate concept for application even when they are not prompted to do so. Teachers provide opportunities at all grade levels for students to apply math concepts in “real world” situations. Teachers in content areas outside of math, particularly science, ensure that students are using math – at all grade levels – to make meaning of and access content.
Source: Student Achievement Partners
The 3-8 Math TNCore Focus Standards for the 2012-2013 school year are:
Grade
TNCore Focus Standards
3rd Grade
Represent and solve problems involving multiplication and division
Understand properties of multiplication and the relationship between multiplication and division
4th Grade
Extend understanding of fraction equivalence and ordering
Build fractions from unit fractions by applying and extending previous understanding of operations on whole numbers
5th Grade
Use equivalent fractions as a strategy to add and subtract fractions
Apply and extend previous understanding of multiplication and division to multiply and divide fractions
6th Grade
Understand ratio concepts and use ratio reasoning to solve problems
Apply and extend previous understanding of arithmetic to algebraic expressions
7th Grade
Analyze proportional relationships and use them to solve real-world and mathematical problems
Solve real-life and mathematical problems using numerical and algebraic expressions and equations
8th Grade
Define, evaluate, and compare functions
Understand the connections between proportional relationships, lines, and linear equations
Videos
Please check back soon for videos explicating and examining in depth the CCSSM, instructional shifts, and the TNCore Focus Standards.
Test Information
K-2: The Tennessee Department of Education is currently engaged in a review of pilots of various assessment products being used in K-2 classrooms across the state. The Department will work to support assessments in both math and reading across all districts. Grades 3-8: In the 2012-2013 school year, the math TCAP will be slimmed down and narrowed in scope of curricular coverage. We will remove 15-25% of the Tennessee Diploma Project (TDP) SPI’s (those that are not part of the CCSSM) from the TCAP. The specific list of State Performance Indicators (SPI's) will be shared on this website in May. The TCAP will remain similarly slimmed and narrowed in the 2013-2014 school year. In 2014-2015, PARCC assessments will replace all TCAP exams.
In order to emphasize the importance of the Focus Standards and provide students and teachers feedback on readiness for the CCSSM, as well as prepare students for the types of extended, innovative item types they will likely see on PARCC exams, we will be expanding the Constructed Response Assessment (CRA) to all grades 3-8. The new CRA will only assess the TNCore Focus Standards in math. Students will take three CRA’s: interim tests in October and February to be scored by teachers, and an official/final CRA in May to be scored by the state (results will be reported back to schools in July). The CRA will be a no-stakes test: student performance on the CRA will not affect teacher, school, or district accountability for the next two years Grades 9-12: There are currently no plans to change the current EOC’s for Algebra I and Algebra II. These tests will continue as planned in their present form until 2014-2015, when the EOC’s will be replaced by PARCC exams for Algebra I, Algebra II, and Geometry.
Key Information from Tennessee Plan
GRADES K-2:
The Tennessee Department of Education encourages all districts to move toward full implementation of the CCSSM in K-2 in the 2012-2013 school year. We will soon release TNCore Focus Standards for K-2, and these will be posted with the 3-8 Focus Standards above.
GRADES 3-8:
Tennessee’s transition to the CCSSM will continue with grades 3-8 in the 2012-2013 school year. Teachers will still teach the current TDP standards (minus the SPI’s to be dropped from the TCAP). In addition, teachers will also be teaching the TNCore Focus Standards listed above. These Focus Standards will allow teachers to focus where the Common Core focuses: on the essential knowledge and skills students need at each grade level in order to advance to the next level of mathematical understanding. Some of the Focus Standards will overlap with the TDP standards; however, as the instructional shifts and the CRA items will prove, they call for a fundamentally different level of rigor and intensive focus. In order to help teachers prepare for these challenging but exciting changes, the Tennessee Department of Education will be hosting summer training sessions for elementary and middle schools. These trainings will be facilitated by Core Coaches, who will continue to lead the transition in their respective schools, districts, and Field Service Center region throughout the upcoming school year.
GRADES 9-12:
We will release the full implementation plan for math 9-12 by January, 2013. For the 2012-2013 school year, the Tennessee Department of Education will convene a group of Core Coaches to begin implementing the CCSSM in Algebra I and II. We also encourage Geometry teachers to incorporate CCSSM Geometry and Algebra standards into their courses.
See Tennessee’s transition plan for more detail, including the composition of summer training sessions and further support, such as online courses, to be provided throughout the summer and school year.
NEWS
<Tennessee Focus Standards - released April 15, 2012>
TN CORE Website - www.tncore.orgMath
The Common Core State Standards in Mathematics (CCSSM) present an opportunity to engage Tennessee students more deeply in the types of problem solving and mathematical thinking that build the fundamental and adaptive math skills necessary for life after high school. Please find below information about the key instructional shifts called for by the CCSSM, the Focus Standards which will be used to start the transition, videos about the CCSSM, assessment shifts, an explanation of how all of these pieces fit together in Tennessee’s transition plan, and a list of helpful resources.Instructional Shifts
Linking to major topics: Instead of allowing less important topics to detract from the focus of the grade, these topics are taught in relation to the grade level focus. For example, data displays are not an end in themselves but are always presented along with grade-level word problems.
Procedural skill and fluency: Students are expected to have speed and accuracy in calculation. Teachers structure class time and/or homework time for students to practice core functions such as multiplication facts so that students are able to understand and manipulate more complex concepts.
Application: Students are expected to use math and choose the appropriate concept for application even when they are not prompted to do so. Teachers provide opportunities at all grade levels for students to apply math concepts in “real world” situations. Teachers in content areas outside of math, particularly science, ensure that students are using math – at all grade levels – to make meaning of and access content.
The 3-8 Math TNCore Focus Standards for the 2012-2013 school year are:
Videos
Please check back soon for videos explicating and examining in depth the CCSSM, instructional shifts, and the TNCore Focus Standards.Test Information
K-2: The Tennessee Department of Education is currently engaged in a review of pilots of various assessment products being used in K-2 classrooms across the state. The Department will work to support assessments in both math and reading across all districts.Grades 3-8: In the 2012-2013 school year, the math TCAP will be slimmed down and narrowed in scope of curricular coverage. We will remove 15-25% of the Tennessee Diploma Project (TDP) SPI’s (those that are not part of the CCSSM) from the TCAP. The specific list of State Performance Indicators (SPI's) will be shared on this website in May. The TCAP will remain similarly slimmed and narrowed in the 2013-2014 school year. In 2014-2015, PARCC assessments will replace all TCAP exams.
In order to emphasize the importance of the Focus Standards and provide students and teachers feedback on readiness for the CCSSM, as well as prepare students for the types of extended, innovative item types they will likely see on PARCC exams, we will be expanding the Constructed Response Assessment (CRA) to all grades 3-8. The new CRA will only assess the TNCore Focus Standards in math. Students will take three CRA’s: interim tests in October and February to be scored by teachers, and an official/final CRA in May to be scored by the state (results will be reported back to schools in July). The CRA will be a no-stakes test: student performance on the CRA will not affect teacher, school, or district accountability for the next two years
Grades 9-12: There are currently no plans to change the current EOC’s for Algebra I and Algebra II. These tests will continue as planned in their present form until 2014-2015, when the EOC’s will be replaced by PARCC exams for Algebra I, Algebra II, and Geometry.
Key Information from Tennessee Plan
GRADES K-2:
The Tennessee Department of Education encourages all districts to move toward full implementation of the CCSSM in K-2 in the 2012-2013 school year. We will soon release TNCore Focus Standards for K-2, and these will be posted with the 3-8 Focus Standards above.GRADES 3-8:
Tennessee’s transition to the CCSSM will continue with grades 3-8 in the 2012-2013 school year. Teachers will still teach the current TDP standards (minus the SPI’s to be dropped from the TCAP). In addition, teachers will also be teaching the TNCore Focus Standards listed above. These Focus Standards will allow teachers to focus where the Common Core focuses: on the essential knowledge and skills students need at each grade level in order to advance to the next level of mathematical understanding. Some of the Focus Standards will overlap with the TDP standards; however, as the instructional shifts and the CRA items will prove, they call for a fundamentally different level of rigor and intensive focus. In order to help teachers prepare for these challenging but exciting changes, the Tennessee Department of Education will be hosting summer training sessions for elementary and middle schools. These trainings will be facilitated by Core Coaches, who will continue to lead the transition in their respective schools, districts, and Field Service Center region throughout the upcoming school year.GRADES 9-12:
We will release the full implementation plan for math 9-12 by January, 2013. For the 2012-2013 school year, the Tennessee Department of Education will convene a group of Core Coaches to begin implementing the CCSSM in Algebra I and II. We also encourage Geometry teachers to incorporate CCSSM Geometry and Algebra standards into their courses.See Tennessee’s transition plan for more detail, including the composition of summer training sessions and further support, such as online courses, to be provided throughout the summer and school year.
Resources
BLOG BY BILL MCCALLUM,
lead author of the CCSSM, on math tools and other developmentsILLUSTRATIVE MATHEMATICS,
a Bill McCallum project with a growing set of sample problems to illustrate each StandardUNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA CCSSM SITE,
with papers on math progressionsMATH COMMON CORE COALITION,
a project led by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, with a collection of resources for teachers